


I'll Keep You Safe

by porcupinegoldstein



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Baby Niffler, Blankets, Drabble, First meeting of Newt and Niffler, Hufflepuff, Newt just being cute, Niffler burrito, mama!newt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-03
Updated: 2017-03-03
Packaged: 2018-09-28 00:06:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10058189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/porcupinegoldstein/pseuds/porcupinegoldstein
Summary: Newt is a 21 year old wizard who finds a baby niffler at the bottom of his garden and decides to adopt it.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I threw this up in about half an hour, maybe even less. I just had it in my head so I wanted to get it all down before I forgot it. I'm waiting for a bit for my next multi chapter fic but, I already have two ideas in my head for it. Will put the ideas in the end notes and you guys can decide which you want first

The rain was heavier than normal, and Newt went to run back inside the house from the barn of Hippogriffs when something caught his eye. Letting his curiosity get the better of him, the young Scamander jogged over to the tree at the bottom of the garden and let out an audible gasp when he discovered what looked like a baby Niffler, shivering, and letting out small squeaks as if to call out for its mother. The man stood there for a half a second before kneeling in the wet grass, water droplets falling from his chestnut curls and freckled nose. The Niffler sniffed up and looked towards the stranger, barely able to walk and letting out another questioning squeak. Newt stretched out a hand towards the beast, offering the Niffler to take a smell so that he could deem him as a friend and not an enemy.

The Niffler looked towards Newt’s hand and sniffed at it before raising his head and looking straight at Newt, as if making some sort of connection with the wizard. Newt slowly reached out his other hand and scooped the beast up, bringing him close to him and taking a quick scope around for any sign of the little guy’s family. When he saw no trace at all, Newt’s heart shattered. They left him behind to fend for himself. Well, not anymore.

“I’m going to be your mother now,” Newt told the creature, who huddled up closer to Newt for some sort of bodily warmth. Even though the young wizard was now dripping wet. With a quick dash, and a careful hold of the beast, Newt ran back into the house and immediately went up to his room, taking a towel and a blanket from the cupboard and drying the Niffler off, being careful not to hurt him and then proceeding to wrap him up in a warm, cotton blanket. The shivering had stopped at least, and Newt let the creature down on his bed before going to get changed himself into something warmer, pulling on his old, yellow Hufflepuff jumper and a pair of cotton trousers.

Newt sat back down on the bed and brought the Niffler close to him to lie in his lap. With a gentle hand, he stroked the top of the beast’s head and observed him for a few seconds. He was certainly smaller than most Nifflers. That’s when it struck Newt. He must have been the runt of the litter, and his Niffler mother must have left him behind, not thinking that he was strong enough to come with the rest of the family. Swallowing the lump in his throat at the thought Newt smiled down towards his new friend.

“I’m not going to leave you, I promise. I’ll have to hide you away from Mum though. Just don’t go wandering off and stealing all the gold in the house once you can walk,” he spoke softly to the Niffler, moving his hand to scratch under the creature’s chin with a gin playing at his face.

 He had grown up with Hippogriffs and while they were amazing creatures to grow up, so beautiful and majestic, Newt had always wanted a smaller pet as well. His Mum however had always told him no. He would constantly be asking for a Kneazle or something other than a Hippogriff. Aegeus was more an owl for Theseus than Newt, then again Theseus had always been the brother that brought most victory. Quidditch Captain, Prefect, Head Boy and of course a Gryffindor as well. Even if Newt did love his brother, they were complete opposites. While Theseus was extroverted and liked to assert his dominance, Newt was more introverted and tended to stick more with animals than he did people. Especially after he was expelled from Hogwarts and the one person that he had trusted was nowhere to be seen, forcing him to take the blame for what she had done.

Letting out a sigh and shaking his head from those thoughts Newt turned his attention back to the Niffler who had now fallen asleep in his lap. The wizard just smiled and let the creature sleep there for a few moments more, before gently lifting him, being careful not to wake him and making a small nest inside his wardrobe out of blankets, pillows and a couple of old jumpers and his Hufflepuff scarf.

“Sweet dreams Niff,” he whispered and closed the cupboard door slightly, letting it stay open just enough so that the Niffler would still have light coming through once day broke out.

 

The Niffler however didn’t stay unable to walk for very long. After a couple of weeks, Newt was finding the beast curled up in many different places and was always met with a kind eye roll from the wizard, who scooped him up and took him back to the wardrobe nest, instructed to stay put. The Niffler however had a mind of his own and when Newt left the room, he climbed out of the box Newt had put in there for him, and scuttled around the wizard’s room, on the lookout for anything shiny. What he could find; a couple of loose coins and a few of Newt’s shoe buckles, he took back into his nest to hide them away.

The Niffler had found his way into most rooms, taking every coin he could get his paws on. Newt hadn’t even noticed until they were all sat one day at the dinner table and Newt noticed from the corner of his eye that the Niffler was taking buttons off Theseus’ coat, which had been slung carelessly on the door handle of the door. Standing quickly, Newt mumbled an excuse about leaving a tap on before walking out of the door and picking up the Niffler on his way out. Just in time to hear his mum ask his father about certain pieces of her jewellery that had gone missing. When Newt was out of view, he held up the Niffler to meet his gaze and gave him a warning look.

“Did you take her stuff?” he asked and just got a little nudge on the cheek from the Niffler’s bill instead. He rolled his eyes and took the small gold thief up into his room once again. Opening his cupboard door, Newt sighed when he saw the stack of coins, cutlery, and jewellery that the creature had gathered for himself.

Jumping out of the wizard’s hands, the Niffler landed on his treasure and put his paws over it protectively. That was until Newt started to gather it all up and earned squeaks of distress from his creature, not wanting to see all his hard work and treasure being taken away before his tiny, Niffler eyes.

“What is taking you so long bro-,” Theseus stopped in the doorway when he spotted Newt, arms full of gold and a Niffler sat on top of the pile, squeaking at him. The two brothers stared at each other for a full minute before more footsteps came up and Newt’s mum stood in the doorway, spotting her youngest son with the creature as well.

“Newton Artemis Fido Scamander, what in Merlin’s name are you doing with a Niffler?” she asked with a sigh. “You’re 21 years old, you should know better than to sneak in a creature to be your pet,” she added.

“I found him out in the rain mum. He was shivering and his family had left him. I couldn’t leave him out there all alone, he would have died,” Newt looked towards his mum, his green eyes growing big and sad, in a method that he knew he would win his mother over with.

“Okay. You can keep him but, keep a closer eye on him Newton. If he does steal anything then I want it brought straight back, no arguments,” she answered, knowing that she couldn’t exactly say no to her son who seemed so intent on caring for creatures.

“Thanks mum, I promise he’ll be on his best behaviour,” Newt smiled up at her and tickled the Niffler’s belly with a goofy grin on his face, unknowing that the little creature would cause him quite the havoc and adventure in New York some years later.

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly, I just wanted to write something cute so here you go. 
> 
> The two ideas I have for some fics are: 
> 
> A. Based on the book Unwind, Newt, Tina and Queenie are all set to be 'unwound' a process where your parents or guardians may sign you up between the ages of 13 and 18 to go to a harvest camp so those in need can have parts of your body/organs. However these three escape and are on the run from the police. 
> 
> B. A Dear Soldier AU. Tina finds the name and station of a soldier by the name of Newt Scamander. She writes him letters while he's at war and he writes back. The two have no idea what the other looks like, and when the war's over, Newt asks if he can meet Tina in person.


End file.
